Harleianae, vol. 1. no. 8371). This title, which is repeated with variations in spelling in vol. iv. no. 12070, bears every mark of authenticity. The book appears to have been printed in France, and the idea of Dame Scotia's exhortations to her sons, the Three Estates, is borrowed from Alain Chartier's Quadrilogue invectif, some passages of which are appropriated outright. Other passages are borrowings from Octavien de Saint Gelais and Sir David Lyndsay. There are strong arguments against Robert Wedderburn's authorship, as maintained by Laing and others. It is not likely that he would write in support of Cardinal Beaton's policy, and the dialect is an exaggerated form of Latinized Middle Scots, differing materially from the language of the Compendious Book. Some of the orthographical and typographical peculiarities are due to the fact that the book was set up by Parisian printers. Sir J. A. H. Murray inclines to assign it to Sir James Inglis, or an unknown priest of the name of Wedderburn.
The text of the Complaynt was first edited by Leyden in 1801. Murray's edition for the E. F. T. S. appeared in 1872. The introduction to the latter requires revision in the light of later discoveries as to the plagiarisms in the text. See the paper by W. A. Neilson in The Journal of Germanic Philology (iv), the note by W. A. Craigie in The Modern Quarterly of Language and Literature (i. 267), Gregory Smith's Specimens of Middle Scots (1902), p. 135 et seq., and the article by J. T. T. Brown in the Scottish Historical Review (January 1904).
WEDDING, the common term for the marriage ceremony. The verb "to wed" is properly to engage by a pledge (O. Eng. wed, a pledge, wager; cf. Lat. vas, vadis; M. Dutch wedde, pledge, pawn; Swed. vad, bet, &c.). The term "wedlock" (O. Eng. wedlac; from lac, a gift), used of the state of marriage, or the vows and sacrament of marriage, properly means a gift given as a pledge; cf. Ger. Morgengabe, the gift to the bride on the morning after the marriage.
WEDGE (O. Eng. weag, a mass of metal, cognate with Dutch
weg, wigge, Dan. vaegge, &c.; in Lith. the cognate form outside
Teut. is found in wagis, a peg, spigot; there is no connexion
with "weigh," " weight, " which must be referred to the root
wegh, to lift, carry, draw, cf. Lat. vehere, whence " vehicle,"
&c.), a piece of wood or metal, broad and thick at one end, and
inclined to a thin edge or point at the other, used as a means for
splitting wood, rocks, &c., of keeping two closely pressing surfaces
apart, or generally for exerting pressure in a confined space.
The " wedge " has sometimes been classed as one of the simple
mechanical powers, but it is properly only an application of
the inclined plane.
In meteorology, the term " wedge " is used of a narrow area of high pressure between two adjacent cyclonic systems, which takes the form of a wedge or tongue, as do the isobars representing it on a weather-chart. A wedge moves along between the rear of a retreating cyclone and the front of one advancing, and may be regarded as a projection from an anticyclonic system lying to one side of the course of the cyclones. As the crest of the wedge (i.e. the line of highest pressure) passes over any point the wind there changes suddenly from one direction almost to the opposite, while the clearing weather of the retreating cyclone and the temporary fine weather after its passing are quickly succeeded by a break indicating the approach of the following cyclone.
Conditions exactly opposite to those accompanying a wedge are provided by a " V-shaped depression."
WEDGWOOD, JOSIAH (1730–1795), the most distinguished
of English manufacturers of pottery, came of a family many
members of which had been established as potters in Staffordshire
throughout the 17th century and had played a notable
part in the development of the infant industry. Dr Thomas
Wedgwood of Burslem was one of the best of the early salt glaze
potters. Josiah, born in 1730, was the youngest child
of another Thomas Wedgwood, who owned a small but thriving
pottery in Burslem. At a very early age he distinguished
himself by keen powers of observation and interest in all that
was curious and beautiful. Soon after the death of his father in
1739, Josiah, then scarcely ten years of age, was taken away
from school and set to learn the art of " throwing " clay, i.e.
shaping pottery vessels on the thrower's wheel, at which he soon
became extraordinarily skilful.
In 1744 he was apprenticed to his eldest brother, who had succeeded to the management of his father's pottery; and in 1752, shortly after the term of his apprenticeship had expired, he became manager of a small pottery at Stoke-upon-Trent, known as Alder's pottery, at a very moderate salary. Within a year or two he became junior partner with Thomas Whieldon of Fenton, then the cleverest master-potter in Staffordshire. Many of Whieldon's apprentices afterwards became noted potters, and there can be little doubt that Wedgwood gained greatly at this period of his life by his association with Whieldon. But he was too original to remain long content with a subordinate position, and the pottery business was developing so rapidly that he had every inducement to commence work on his own account.
In I759 he leased the Ivy House pottery in Burslem from some relatives, and like a sensible man he continued to make only such pottery as was being made at the period by his fellow manufacturers. Salt-glaze and green and yellow glaze seem to have been his first staples. In 1762 he also leased the Brick-House, alias " Bell " works, at Burslem. The fine white English earthenware was just reaching perfection, and Wedgwood was soon one of its best-known makers. He was most active and energetic in his efforts, not only for the improvement of Staffordshire pottery, but almost equally so for the improvement of turnpike roads, the construction of a canal (the Trent & Mersey) and the founding of schools and chapels. Almost the first step in his public career outside his native district was the presentation of a service of his improved cream-coloured earthenware to Queen Charlotte in 1762. The new ware was greatly appreciated, and Wedgwood was appointed potter to the queen and afterwards to the king. He gave the name of Queen's Ware to his productions of this class, and this judicious royal patronage awarded to a most deserving manufacturer undoubtedly helped Wedgwood greatly. Having laid the foundations of a successful business in his admirable domestic pottery—the best the world had ever seen up to that time—he turned his attention to artistic pottery, and the European renaissance of classic art—fostered by the discovery of Pompeii and the recovery of Greek painted vases from the ancient graves in Campania and other parts of Italy—being at its height it was natural that Wedgwood should turn to such a source of inspiration. Although every European country was affected by this neo-classical revival it may be claimed that England absorbed it more completely than any other country, for the brothers Adam (the architects) and Josiah Wedgwood brought it into absolute correspondence with modern tastes and ideas. Wedgwood was particularly successful in this direction, for his " dry " bodies—some of which, like the black and cane bodies, had long been known in the district, others, such as the famous Jasper bodies, which he invented after years of laborious effort—lent themselves particularly well to the reproduction of designs based on the later phases of Greek art. If our increased appreciation and knowledge of Greek and Roman art makes us at times impatient with the mechanical perfection of the works of Wedgwood and his contemporaries, the fault is even more the fault of a nation and a period than that of any individual, however commanding. It will always remain to Wedgwood's credit that he was the most successful and original potter the world has ever seen—the only one, through all the centuries, of whom it can be truthfully said that the whole subsequent course of pottery manufacture has been influenced by his skill.
Of the externals of his life a few facts will suffice. He married his cousin, Sarah Wedgwood, in 1764, and they had a numerous family of sons and daughters. One of these daughters was the mother of the famous naturalist Charles Darwin. Some time after his marriage (viz. 1768) he entered into a partnership with Thomas Bentley of Liverpool, a man of considerable taste and culture. Bentley, who was a handsome, courtly man, attended largely to the London sales. In 1769 they opened splendid new works, near Hanley, that with their classic leanings they christened " Etruria." They continued a practice of Wedgwood's in employing able artists to produce designs, and the most famous of these was John Flaxman, whose name will for ever be associated with the firm's productions. Bentley died in 1780 and Wedgwood
